How to Teach Graduates to Write Business Articles

No matter which industry your firm currently operates within, if you are a fan of employing graduates straight out of university things can often become a little tricky when attempting to teach them to write long pieces of text in a suitable business style. This is mainly because they've spent so long being guided by lecturers and teachers who required something different from them, so essentially you'll have to start from scratch. Still, the good news is, they should be fantastic with spelling and grammar because of the coursework they've been doing, so it's not all bad.

Even so, knowing exactly what you want them to do and being able to articulate this properly is essential. At the end of the day, your new employees writing skills will only be as good as their understanding of what's needed, and their understanding comes down to you. Some business owners opt to leave this type of task to reputable firms who have whole teams of writers with the ability to take on all manner of styles, but if you're insistent on training graduates, just read through the following paragraphs, and I'll try to help you out.

Identify The Topic And Research

Firstly, you'll need to tell your trainees that knowing a subject inside out is the best way of being able to write quality related content. They must have the ability to perform research into the specific area and draw their own conclusions. It's a good idea for them to read through at least the last six months worth of similar articles online to guarantee they understand exactly what any wider opinions on the topic may be.

Hook Readers From The Get Go

As with any kind of writing, it's important your staff members realise the importance of their first paragraphs. I can tell you from personal experience that if the beginning of a piece of text is less than exciting, you'll lose half of your audience within only a few seconds. Ideally, the opening statement needs to be both alluring and informative, whilst also asking a question or in some way inciting the reader to think.

Write The Main Body Of Text Chronologically

Large articles or essays need to be in a strict order to ensure readers follow the passage easily. Personally, I prefer writing chronologically, but depending on the content your employees are producing, this might not be the best solutions for you. All you need to do is apply some common sense and encourage your writers to identify an order before they put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard as it always seems to be these days).

Always Summarise At The End

This is the same for all types of writing, but explaining exactly how to do it properly is something people often have trouble with-so I'll do it for you. Your content staff need to work to the rule of 3. First they tell the reader what their going to say, then they say it, and lastly, they tell the reader what has just been said. This is a basic reinforcement tactic that even some fiction authors use from time to time.

Anyway, I'm off back to bed because I've got a terrible cold and an incredibly amount of work to do tomorrow. I hope this has helped you in some small way.